Who, me?

I got a beautiful blogger award! Thanks Karin at Ancien Nouveau!Yes, people, the beautiful Karin is to blame for encouraging me to crap on even more than I do normally to let you know 10 things about me. Once more, with feeling, THANKS KARIN! (For those of you who actually have a life, LOG OUT NOW).

Random stuff about me.

1. I’m rather good at catching spiders. I use the old-school method of trapping them under a glass and then sliding a coaster or piece of cardboard underneath at great speed before I release them. Rather large Huntsmen are my spider of choice, so that’s why I’ve prepared this picture for you of a baby one that visited me the other night. For my overseas visitors, Huntsmen are not dangerous, they just look that way, and they can also sometimes give you a nasty nip if you happen to disturb them (as my dad found out when he put his foot into a shoe where one was hiding).2. Chickens scare me. They’re all beaks and beady eyes and scary clucky noises. If I had a choice of being stuck in a room full of chickens or a room full of Huntsmen, I’m 99.9% sure I would go for the Huntsmen. And don’t even get me started about turkeys. They’re so yuk even the thought of searching for a picture of one makes me shudder.

3. I have a grey streak but it’s not from impending old age. It was blonde when I was born and now it’s grey.4. Not only do I have a grey streak but two years ago I had both my bunions operated on and now I have little pins in my big toe joints. My doctor said it was not necessarily because I’d worn inappropriate footwear, but he then proceeded to tell me that high heels were the devil’s work. Now I’ve had the operation so I can completely ignore him.

5. To build on my grey streak and bunion operation… I also LOVE Agatha Christie films like the Poirot series with David Suchet – amazing locations, set interiors and costumes. Best enjoyed with some lovely Earl Grey tea. Aggh, there’s a 70 year old in me just struggling to get out.6. Five years ago I couldn’t swim unless you count dog paddle as a stroke. I took swimming lessons with a colleague in Tokyo and now I can swim more than 30 laps of a 50 metre pool freestyle, I do 10 laps in about 12 minutes, so I’m never going to win the Olympics, but meh, it’s something I’m quite proud of.

7. I am hopeless at throwing things out. Sometimes because things can still be used (like bits of ribbon, wrapping paper, jackets I made as trial patterns, etc) and sometimes just because of nostalgia (my school calendar from 1984, letters from back in the day when people actually used pen and paper to communicate, my old cat’s baby tooth, a skirt I used to wear in kinder – and can still squeeze into now – etc). I’m also not opposed to picking stuff up that other people throw out. Check out this teacup I found on my neighbour’s rubbish in Japan – it looks like a normal cup until you hold it up to the light, and the base reveals a woman’s face. How cool is that???8. I don’t drink (except for the extremely occasional cocktail). It’s not for any religious or self-righteous reason, I just don’t like the taste of most grown-up beverages and alcohol doesn’t make me fun, it just makes me feel like I have low blood pressure, which, last time I checked, was hardly a sought-after attribute for a party animal. I used to love beer when I was little (I woke up in the middle of the night yelling out for beer once when I was 2, and used to demand it when my parents took me to restaurants, much to the waitresses’ surprise, no doubt) but I grew out of that phase long ago!9. I ran 12km today, although I admit that I took a catnap in the middle. For the uninitiated, a catnap during a run is not sleeping, it’s when you come across one of your feline friends and stop to say hello and rub their bellies and consider kidnapping them because they’re so cute. But don’t let Suki know that I do this!!10. I’m really enjoying this blogging biz, even though I’ve only been doing it since the start of the year and don’t know how to put impressive flashy gizmos up to make Style Wilderness a bit more civilised. It’s so nice to have the chance to meet all you lovely people and see what you get up to, and share (what I hope are) the more interesting aspects of my life with you!

And now comes the bit where I tag five of you and you have to tell us about yourselves (10 things) and then tag five other bloggers who you think are Beautiful Bloggers.So I am trying to nominate people who have made comments and have their own blog, and who I don’t think have done one of these tagging things before… although I may of course be mistaken. That has been known to happen VERY occasionally.

.. and for something different, a boy!! Adam at All About Shoes who I think will be rather interesting as he is not only a boy but blogs in English when he is actually Polish (I think? Please correct me if I’m wrong, Adam?)I doubt that these people obsessively check my blog so I’ll go and ask them to do this tagging thingo .. but it’s now nearly midnight and I should go to bed! Thanks for reading… I’ve probably managed to send you to sleep too!!

Congratulations! You are soooo deserving of an award!!! Good for you learning to swim…I have a picture of you with one of those retro swimming caps with the huge flowers on them cruising langorously down the lane!!!

Ah, Imperfectly Me, if only that were the case… there's no cruising to be had at my local pool as I have to keep my wits about me so as not to be kicked in the head by grandpas sporting flippers or over-enthusiastic youngsters practising butterfly…And Caz…I forgot to say I also love Victorian dramas .. but I'll leave that for another time!

Wow, you're the first blogger to ever tag my blog! That's really sweet of you :DI really like the tea cup, the woman's expression on it is priceless! I never throw out things that give me nostalgic chills, let it be a shoe lace or earrings missing one side.classique chérie

Just came across your blog, and am excited to follow what goes on in the life of an Australian Fashionista 🙂 I've never made it to Australia, but would love to, so for now will just live vicariously through you and the other Aussie bloggers!xolacey

Obviously I don't have a life because I read every little bit with great attention and loved it. (I also moved from the big city to the country side, and it seems this is what happens…)Never understood the spider phobia thing either. When we lived in Australia I tried to vacuum-clean the huntsmen, but that always clogged up the v.c., so then I moved to catching them in bowls (and as you say, they are not poisonous or bad in any way, just very hairy) – and I do find chickens (actually most birds) creepy, too! xo

Man, I started reading this and thought, man, you are me – if you know what I mean. I'm not bad with spiders. I don't go all girlie and scream, I just move 'em on. I hate chickens. Eugggh. Get 'em away from me. I also have a soft spot for Poirot and Miss Marple – learned to swim at age 17 (swam with the five-year-olds), have grey hairs and refuse to dye my hair – no bunions though. I run, but not 12kms and I don't stop to pat the cats. I run about 3kms each lunch time and then about 6kms on weekends – with a weights circuit in between. Hmmm. That's about all. Not much the same, really, just a bit.

Scarily similar. I don't have bunions either, thanks to the op. Only thing different is our running… I prefer to do a lot at one time (used to be able to do 23k with no catnaps but thanks to bunion op in 2008, sprained ankle last year and pulled calf muscle this year, I am only on 10k right now) so I have some days off to loiter in op shops!

Great read, I laughed at least five times (thanks!). I'm a good spider(/insect)-hunter too. Or rescuer. And terribly bad at throwing things away (I somwtimes worry I'll end up as one of the poor sould who end up in the paper having been found dead in a tunnel of rubbish in their own homes, it happens, one in England this spring, but then I remember that it's all about seeing potential in things, and recycling, and that's good!).I used to be a swimming teacher and I'm impressed by your progress, well done!